ABSTRACT
Devanna de la Puente grew up in Chile in the 1980s during Augusto Pinochet’s military regime. During that period, Chile experienced a political crisis resulting in severe human rights violations and abuses, including forced disappearances and widespread and systematic sexual violence. In witnessing her country’s political struggles, she saw the particular toll these struggles took on the lives of women. Devanna was not directly affected by any of these incidents, but the turmoil and the political discourse of the time heightened her sense of justice, prompting her to work for women’s rights in humanitarian and emergency settings with both United Nations (UN) agencies and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
